Sunday, January 31, 2010

The three of us cook a variety of items at home- South indian dishes comprising of South canara cuisine and tam-bram cuisine. We also cook not so bram dishes with loads of garlic and onions. Then there are the north indian dishes. You get the picture- we have a varied taste. I like my food hot and spicy while they both like it mild and tending towards what i like to call, bland. ;)But the one dish that unites us all, apart from curd rice, is Pasta. So much that it gets made at least once a week, if not more. And we shop for a new shape of Pasta each time we go out- macaroni, penne, Fusilli and the likes.I thought i would start this blog with a post about a recipe for some sweet dish, like an auspicious beginning, but what the hell- pasta is like the national dish of the house (No offense to the humble dosa, it still tops our favorite dish list). So here is the recipe. This time, it was the turn of Farfalle- a butterfly shaped pasta.Since we kind of plonk stuff randomly into the pan, i am not going into the specifics of the quantity of ingredients. First of all, for the pasta sauce, process the vegetables required- capsicum, tomato, onion, spinach and garlic. Chop them finely. In a frying pan, heat some olive oil and saute the garlic and onion. Once it turns golden brown, add the capsicum and fry well. After about 5 mins, add in the tomatoes and spinach. Add salt and pepper powder to taste. Once all the vegetables are done and the mixture reaches a gravy like consistency, add in about half a cup of milk and simmer.When the pasta sauce is getting done, cook the pasta in parallel. Add enough water to a pot with some salt and oil and add the pasta to it. The amount of time that the pasta has to boil to be cooked al dente is something i have not figured out yet. Though people advise to throw it on the tile to check if it is done, we just keep checking it by eating it ;)Once the pasta is done- it should be chewy and soft but not mushy- wash it under cold water and add it to the sauce. Adjust the salt and add lots of grated cheese. Since we don't have the time or patience to grate the cheese, we just add flavoured cheese spread. Once it all comes together with a creamy consistency, garnish it with oregano and La pasta è pronto! Serve it hot!